On November 21, 1849, the County Commissioners Court passed an order making it the duty of the court to support and bury indigents of the county. The county and city were to maintain and bury their paupers. Methods were mapped out on how to take care of the poor in San Antonio in February 1854. This led to the establishment of Bexar County Poorhouse. (Ref: San Antonio Express, Welfare Problems Given Different Treatment in Past, Page 108, August 3, 1969)
Bexar County Poor Farm was established on Farm Road off of Southton Road in San Antonio, Texas in 1857. Bexar County Poor Farm was first known as Bexar County Poorhouse before becoming Bexar County Poor Farm. County officials established Bexar County Poor Farm for the purpose of housing the poor and indigent paupers from the area and providing housing for indigent people. (Ref: Bexar County Official Public Records - Real Estate, Volume 2427, Page 442)
The Bexar County Poor Farm facility was a 3 story wooden structure with a basement built in 1856 and opened in 1857. Small one room structures were used for tuberculosis patients. The rooms were small and isolated from the other charges along with everyone else. Residents who were healthy and able were expected to work on the property.
property.
In March of 1875, the county published the rules of the poor-house in the minutes which provide excellent details about what they required supervisors to do along with some basic regulations concerning the poor. The rules required the superintendent of the poor farm to keep full records of all inmates of the poor farm. This included name, age, nativity, trade, sex, marital status, citizenship, date of admission, and cause of pauperism. They also had to keep full accounts of all funds spent on food, clothing and other supplies. The county physician had to examine each pauper before admittance to the poor farm. If found contagious of any disease dangerous to life or health, the county would not admit them. Upon admittance paupers were bathed and provided with new clothes.
(Ref: Rules and Regulations for County Poor-House, Bexar County, TX, Rules 1-4, Bexar County Commissioners’ Court Minutes, Vol. 3-A, 588-590)
According to a news article from Austin Weekly Statesman dating back to 1878, Bexar County Poor Farm was listed as being well managed. “The Bexar county poor house is well managed and is a credit to the community in which it exists.” (Ref: Austin Weekly Statesman, Page 2, Thursday, February 21, 1878)
There is often conflict and questionability as to whether two county poorhouses existed in Bexar County. There seems to have been a county poorhouse located closer to downtown in the Tobin Hill neighborhood.
Although the Bexar County Poor Farm had a working farm located off Southton Road, the Bexar County Poor Farm had a central annex and hospital located north of downtown on what was once known as Rock Quarry Road and is now St. Mary’s Street. The Bexar County Poor House was located west of Rock Quarry Road (now St. Mary’s Street). (Ref: City of San Antonio Texas map from 1889)
The 1885-1886 San Antonio City Directory lists Bexar County Poor House with an address shown as:
"West Side Rock Quarry road, nr N. city limits, J.A. Smith, supt [superintendent]." It is possible Bexar County had two poorhouses due to the size of the county. (Ref: 1885-1886 San Antonio City Directory)
However a Sanborn Insurance Map from 1911 of San Antonio shows Bexar County Poor Farm being located at the intersection of Jones Avenue & Olympian Way (now St. Mary’s Street & Mulberry Street). Bexar County Poor Farm is listed under the name of “Bexar County Poor Farm and Hospital”. (Ref: San Antonio Sanborn Insurance Map of 1911, Vol. 2, Page 184)
So it seems that Bexar County had already had a poor farm established before the one in Tobin Hill was established. The one in Tobin Hill seems to have came afterwards. The Poor Farm facility in Tobin Hill was established in the 1880s. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6930706/pauper_history/)
Albert Huppertz was the attending physician and druggist for Bexar County Poor Farm and Home For The Aged during the 1890s. (Ref: https://txbexar.eppygen.org/Records/Re_CD_1891_H.htm)
According to a late 1908 article from San Antonio Gazette, Conditions at the Bexar County Poor Farm were found to be first class by the county commissioners.” This meant the facilities were in pristine condition. (Ref: San Antonio Gazette, Inspect Poor Farm, Page 10, December 29, 1908)
New rules were proposed by commissioners as reported in the San Antonio Light in 1908.
“Hereafter persons to be admitted to either the Bexar County Poor Farm or hospital must have been residents of the county for at least six months. Applications must also be accompanied by a certificate signed by at least two citizens of the county, certifying the applicant is in a destitute condition and is in need of assistance. In a formal order the county commissioners will tomorrow adopt new rules governing the poor farm and hospital and hope thereby to do away with much of the expense caused heretofore by the shipping of indigent persons to this city from outside points. The county physician will be authorized to deny assistance to persons capable of self-maintenance or having families capable of giving support and he will also be empowered to use his own discretion in cases of urgent immediately.”
(Ref: San Antonio Light, Commissioners Propose “New Rules For Admission to Poor Farm and County Hospital, October 6, 1908)
Bexar County Poor Farm had a number of problems. Complaints of poor care of the residents and lack of food were a common problem. Staff were eating well and the charges were not. Mistreatment of charges often went unreported.
Gruesome deaths occurred in such an unsettling manner at the Poor Farm. For instance, pauper named Henry Pusch won a bet. Part of the deal for that bet was that he had to hang himself.
“Having offered to wager with a grave digger that he would be dead within twenty-four hours. Henry Pusch, an aged inmate of the Bexar County Poor Farm, has shown that he was in earnest bv hanging himself from a mesquite tree. His body has been buried in a grave of his own selection. “
[Ref: PAUPER WINS A BET BY HANGING HIMSELF, Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), December 31, 1904)
On the morning of Wednesday, December 29, 1904, Henry Pusch selected a grave in the poor farm cemetery that he would be buried in 24 hours. He uttered to bet with grave-digger that he would be dead in 24 hours. Thursday morning was found dead, hanging by the neck a mesquite tree. Thursday afternoon he was buried in the grave he had selected. This was the unusual ending of an old age inmate of the Bexar County Poor Farm. He was 86 years old and was committed to the farm in 1902. (Ref: SELECTED GRAVE AND DIED Suicide Offered to Bet Grave-Digger He Would Be Dead in 24 Hours, Daily Arkansas Gazette, December 30, 1904)
There were early attempts of selling the Bexar County Poor Farm beginning in the early 20th century. In 1909, efforts were made later to remove the poor house burials to the City Cemetery in hopes of securing a buyer. A county judge attempted to sell the property in an effort to relocate charges to an existing County Poor House on 100 acres outside of the city limits on Southton Road. However the property was not sold at that time. (Ref: http://www.poorhousestory.com/TX_BEXAR_County.htm)
The county judge was considered cemetery at the Poor House “unsightly” to be unsightly by public standards in 1913. The county judge wanted to remove all evidence of the Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery. Bodies were exhumed from this location and reentered to Cemetery No. 1. There is no inventory on the number of interments at the Poor House Cemetery and no record of whether any or all those interments were ever moved to the City Cemetery. (Ref: https://www.sanantonio.gov/Portals/0/Files/HistoricPreservation/arc_reports/BrackenridgePavilion.pdf)
In the middle of 1913, San Antonio Light reported the property was approximately 18 acres including the cemetery which was to be sold or leveled. Bexar County had already begun removing bodies from the cemetery on the old Poor Farm cemetery. The property was reportedly for sale. (Ref: San Antonio Light, July 27, 1913)
Judge Phil Shook sought to sell the old poor farm, having in mind the construction of a building on the new farm. Judge Shook believed that the 18 acres of the old place ought to bring at least $1,000 per acre, but the best offer he could secure was $12,000. (Ref: San Antonio Light, WILL REMOVE BODIES FROM COUNTY FARM, July 27, 1913)
The contract was let to the Zizik Undertaking Company, which company agrees to provide suitable graves for each of the known dead in the potter's field and to re-bury all those whose identities are unknown. The known dead were re-buried in City Cemetery No. 7 and City Cemetery No. 1. Others were put into a common grave to be dug at the new poor farm. (Ref: http://www.poorhousestory.com/TX_BEXAR_Article_Cemetery.htm)
In 1914, 110 acres worth of land were purchased from H. C. Feldman and Cheryl Neese for the sum of $12,932.40 dollars. An additional 10 acres were purchased for staff housing on the end of Farm Road for more than $1,000 dollars. (Ref: Bexar County Official Public Records - Real Estate, Deed No. 69676)
Bexar County Poorhouse was moved from Jones Avenue to an existing poor farm on Southton Road in 1916. Bexar County Poor Farm relocated to HFTA replaced the dilapidated wooden structure with a beautiful Colonial style building. The wooden structure served as a hospital facility during the pre-Civil War era during the same year. The new facility was a Colonial style building on beautiful grounds in spite of politics and the dark history surrounding the property. (Ref: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth399351/m1/1/zoom/?q=southton&resolution=2&lat=2905.5&lon=2217)
On November 26, 1919, 111 acres worth of land were purchased from H. C. Feldman and Cheryl Neese for the sum of $12,932.40 dollars. An additional 10 acres were purchased for staff housing on the end of Farm Road for more than $1,000 dollars. (Ref: Bexar County Official Public Records - Real Estate, November 26, 1919 Deed)
Juanita Rodriguez was reported to be the oldest person living at the Bexar County Poor Farm at 120 years old during the 20th century. She was 115 years old when she moved into the Bexar County Poor Farm. She had lived in Texas since before the Alamo fell. Also she lived in Texas before the siege on the Alamo. Her shack that lived in on the banks of the San Antonio River was washed away. This left her homeless. She was excited to move to the Bexar County Poor Farm. (Ref: https://hubpages.com/education/Southeast-Bexar-County-Awareness-Mendelsohns-hand-in-Southside-ISD-decisions)
When Bexar County Poor Farm closed in 1968, the people who had lived there had no other place to go. Many were dispersed to nursing homes, halfway houses, and to the medical center at Robert B. Green Hospital (then Bexar County Hospital). (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/48916250/)
Tuberculosis patients were transferred to the medical center at Robert B. Green Hospital (then Bexar County Hospital). Elderly patients were transported to the new floor of Robert B. Green Hospital later during the summer of 1968. (Ref: https://newspaperarchive.com/san-antonio-express-and-news-sep-21-1969-p-36/)
Bexar County had advertised the Bexar County Poor Farm property up for sale numerous times in the San Antonio Express during the year of 1969. San Antonio Express reported Bexar County Poor Farm as being abandoned by 1969. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/61039121/)
In August of 1969, Bexar County offered land south of the city that was once the county farm and Southton Boys Home (Bexar County Boys Home) for sale. University of Texas - San Antonio had announced plans on reusing the old Bexar County Poor Farm property as a college campus. The old Home For The Aged building would serve as an administration building for the college campus. (Ref: San Antonio Express, Casseb Heads Jail Committee, Thursday, August 21, 1969)
A new hospital building for the charges was expected to be built on the same site as Bexar County Boys Home and Southton Sanatorium. However those plans never came to fruition as newer facilities were built elsewhere inside the city of San Antonio. Instead a portion of the land is currently deeded to the Bexar County Hospital District as a temporary home for Southton Convalescent Home. Southton Convalescent Home used the old Home For The Aged building as temporary housing for patients which lasted until 1972. (Ref: San Antonio Express, Page 54, September 12, 1969)
The main building was abandoned yet again in 1972 but only for 2 years. Texas A & M University bought the property from Bexar County in 1974. More land was granted to Texas A & M University on December 3, 1979 as part of their property management agreement. (Ref: Bexar County Official Public Records - Real Estate, Volume 2205, Page 146)
Texas A & M University would use this property on a lease for their agricultural programs before selling the property back to Bexar County in 1994 after owning the land for 20 years. (Ref: Bexar County Official Public Records - Real Estate, Volume 6202, Page 883)
1994 was the same year Von Ormy Fire Department would use the property on a lease. However this ceased in 1996 because the location was too far for Von Ormy Fire Department. So the property was abandoned again. The papers that are on the floor are fire department training paperwork and evidence files. The Fire Marshal used the detention facility as a records storage building throughout the 90's. (Ref:
https://961now.iheart.com/featured/the-russell-rush-haunted-tour/content/2017-09-27-san-antonio-insane-asylum/)
People began using the building for satanic rituals and criminal activities. Graffiti soon covered the exteriors and interiors of the main building. Windows are broken and nearly everything salvageable was stolen by scrappers.
The property had sat abandoned for decades before being repurposed. The property was soon taken over by nature and greenery. The property was reported as still abandoned in 1996. Reasons as to why have never been made public. (Ref: http://scribol.com/anthropology-and-history/urban-exploration/19th-century-insane-asylum-abandoned-creepy-haunted/)
Bexar County proposed plans to raze the site in 2008 but the cost for the proper disposal of asbestos is an environmental issue. Removing asbestos is extremely expensive. So nothing happened.
In 2011, the former property of Bexar County Poor Farm was repurposed as the Bexar County Police Training Facility. It is now home to a shooting range owned by Bexar County (Bexar County Police). The land is managed by Bexar County Public Works. (Ref: http://www.mesquite-news.com/southside-haunts-to-visit-this-halloween/)
People already have been arrested and charged for trespassing onto the property over the years. The property is now off limits.
Bexar County Poor Farm was located at 3678 Farm Road, San Antonio, Texas, US 78223 and 10915 Southton Road, San Antonio, Texas, US 78223.
*Over the course of several years, several hospitals, detention
facilities, and schools were located on the same property. Southton
Sanatorium, Home For The Aged, Bexar County Boys Home, Bexar County
Girls Home, Bexar County Poor House, Southton Convalescent Home,
Southton Boys Home, Southton Tuberculosis Hospital, and Bexar County
Convalescent Sanatorium. The reason for this is because the county
believed it would be easier to keep all the 'undesireables' in one
location.
Here is the history about the Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery.
Bexar County Poor Farm had a cemetery located north of their buildings on Farm Road just off Southton Road. This cemetery was established as Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery in 1915. This cemetery was plotted on their property north of the 3 story building near Salado Creek. All the paupers and indigents in the area were placed on this land outside of the city. This included unidentified people and stillborn children from area hospitals. The former Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery near Salado Creek operated from 1914 until the mid 1970s. Today the cemetery is now gone. So are the fence and markers. (Ref: https://www.uer.ca/locations/show.asp?locid=23427)
By the early 1910s, the Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery that was located at North St. Mary’s Street & Mulberry Avenue where the first Bexar County Poor Farm was located had already becoming overcrowded and unsightly. An issue arose about where to relocate all paupers that were buried for reinterment. (Ref: San Antonio Light February 12, 1911)
In 1913, County Judge Phil Shook wanted to remove all evidence of the former Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery that was located at North St. Mary’s Street & Mulberry Avenue. This cemetery had been located there for 58 years. County Judge Phil Shook referred to the former Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery as an “unsightly burial ground”. (Ref: https://www.sanantonio.gov/Portals/0/Files/HistoricPreservation/arc_reports/BrackenridgePavilion.pdf)
According to a news article from The San Antonio Light dating back to July 27, 1913, the commissioners’ court had already bought 100 acres for the Poor Farm, and they planned to raise money for “an institution for the poor that will not be surpassed anywhere in the South” by selling the old poor farm on Jones Avenue in the city. The commissioners’ court planned to establish a modern institution and tent colony. (Ref: The San Antonio Light, WILL REMOVE BODIES FROM COUNTY FARM, July 27, 1913)
Planning of the cemetery removal took several months as commissioners and judges tried to figure out what to do. The county had plans to build “a modern building on a large farm south of town where the inmates will be given greater freedom and be put to work as far as they are able”. (Ref: Yoakum 1914, 112–113).
According to San Antonio Light, the news article appeared under the headlines of WILL REMOVE BODIES FROM COUNTY FARM. (Ref: The San Antonio Light, WILL REMOVE BODIES FROM COUNTY FARM, July 27, 1913)
Commissioners Take First Step to Prepare Property for Sale.
PLAN FOR NEW BUILDING
The initial step in an effort to sell the old poor farm on Jones Avenue, thereby securing a sum which added to another sum to be appropriated for the purpose, will be enough to erect a modern institution on the 100 acres bought for the purpose by the old commissioners' court, was taken yesterday when the county commissioners ordered that all bodies in the burial grounds adjacent to the poor farm be buried elsewhere.
The contract was let to the Zizik Undertaking Company, which company agrees to provide suitable graves for each of the known dead in the potter's field and to re-bury all those whose identities are unknown. The known dead are to be re-buried in City cemetery No. 7, and it is expected that the others will be put into a common grave to be dug at the new poor farm. Suitable shafts will be erected in each instance.
Should Bring Good Sum
Four years ago, Judge Phil Shook, then county judge, sought to sell the old poor farm, having in mind the construction of a building on the new farm. Judge Shook believed that the 18 acres of the old place ought to bring at least $1,000 per acre, but the best offer he could secure was $12,000. Neither Judge Shook nor the ten county commissioners believed the offer was adequate and declined to close the deal.
Since Judge Davis has been in office he has taken the matter up again and believes that by doing away with the unsightly burying ground and leveling all evidences of it after removal of the bodies, that the property may be sold to advantage. Judge Davis is not prepared to set a figure at which the county will be willing to sell, but the value of real estate in San Antonio has increased somewhat during the last four years. Possibly $1,000 per acre may be obtained, giving the county $18,000 to cash to be used in building a new poor house.
What the Plan Contemplates
The county has ample land about nine miles from San Antonio on which to place an up to date institution of the kind that is needed to care for the poor and indigent. In all, slightly over 99 acres are owned by the county, the tract having been bought four years ago from the late Dr. William Meier. At that time a detention hospital was erected on a portion of the land but the greater part has been used for three years as a farm.
If the contemplated plans go through, the county not only will get a modern poorhouse but also have a tuberculosis colony of tents. The proposition of placing a boys' training school there also has been under consideration, but the belief prevails that this may not be so feasible. In any event, the commissioners are working on the theory that the sale of the old poor farm and the placing of an additional sum with the proceeds thus obtained will be adequate to build an institution for the poor that will not be surpassed anywhere in the South. The first step is the removal of the graveyard.
2,500 bodies buried at the former Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery were disinterred about 1914. Reinterment of identified pauper burials were relocated to City Cemetery No. 7. Reinterment of the unknown pauper burials in were relocated to a cemetery at the new poor farm on Farm Road just off Southton Road. Other burials were relocated to cemeteries across the city of San Antonio such as City Cemetery No. 1 or City Cemetery No. 2. All evidence of the old Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery was leveled after the removal of the bodies. (Ref: https://web.archive.org/web/20190205225140/www.poorhousestory.com/TX_BEXAR_Article_Cemetery.htm)
According to the San Antonio Daily Express, the old Bexar County Poor Farm was sold that year. J. H. Kirpatrick was the bidder. (Ref: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth441935/m1/5/zoom/?q=poor%20farm&resolution=3&lat=4160.100238380365&lon=3424.1670639672784)
Most of Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery near Salado Creek was disinterred during the mid 1970s while the Poor Farm and sanitarium were being shut down.
The Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery was recently bulldozed over to aide the utility line easements connected to the new shooting range for Bexar County Sheriff’s Shooting Range back in 2019. These utility lines are pipes which provide electricity and water to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Shooting Range. None of the burials were harmed in the process.
Today the cemetery is now gone. So are the fence and markers. All that remains is an empty field of grass and the former road connecting to this cemetery which has now been removed. (Ref: https://www.uer.ca/locations/show.asp?locid=23427)
There is no inventory on the number of interments at the Poor House Cemetery and no record of whether any or all those interments were ever moved to the City Cemetery. None of the burials were transcribed onto any headstones. Yet some interment records exist. (Ref: http://sites.rootsweb.com/~txsaghs2/Pages/Links-Cemetery-Bexar-N-Z.htm)
The Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery was located at 10915 Southton Road, San Antonio, Texas, US 78223.
Bexar County Poor Farm had a cemetery located north of their buildings on Farm Road just off Southton Road. This cemetery was established as Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery in 1915. This cemetery was plotted on their property north of the 3 story building near Salado Creek. All the paupers and indigents in the area were placed on this land outside of the city. This included unidentified people and stillborn children from area hospitals. The former Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery near Salado Creek operated from 1914 until the mid 1970s. Today the cemetery is now gone. So are the fence and markers. (Ref: https://www.uer.ca/locations/show.asp?locid=23427)
By the early 1910s, the Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery that was located at North St. Mary’s Street & Mulberry Avenue where the first Bexar County Poor Farm was located had already becoming overcrowded and unsightly. An issue arose about where to relocate all paupers that were buried for reinterment. (Ref: San Antonio Light February 12, 1911)
In 1913, County Judge Phil Shook wanted to remove all evidence of the former Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery that was located at North St. Mary’s Street & Mulberry Avenue. This cemetery had been located there for 58 years. County Judge Phil Shook referred to the former Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery as an “unsightly burial ground”. (Ref: https://www.sanantonio.gov/Portals/0/Files/HistoricPreservation/arc_reports/BrackenridgePavilion.pdf)
According to a news article from The San Antonio Light dating back to July 27, 1913, the commissioners’ court had already bought 100 acres for the Poor Farm, and they planned to raise money for “an institution for the poor that will not be surpassed anywhere in the South” by selling the old poor farm on Jones Avenue in the city. The commissioners’ court planned to establish a modern institution and tent colony. (Ref: The San Antonio Light, WILL REMOVE BODIES FROM COUNTY FARM, July 27, 1913)
Planning of the cemetery removal took several months as commissioners and judges tried to figure out what to do. The county had plans to build “a modern building on a large farm south of town where the inmates will be given greater freedom and be put to work as far as they are able”. (Ref: Yoakum 1914, 112–113).
According to San Antonio Light, the news article appeared under the headlines of WILL REMOVE BODIES FROM COUNTY FARM. (Ref: The San Antonio Light, WILL REMOVE BODIES FROM COUNTY FARM, July 27, 1913)
Commissioners Take First Step to Prepare Property for Sale.
PLAN FOR NEW BUILDING
The initial step in an effort to sell the old poor farm on Jones Avenue, thereby securing a sum which added to another sum to be appropriated for the purpose, will be enough to erect a modern institution on the 100 acres bought for the purpose by the old commissioners' court, was taken yesterday when the county commissioners ordered that all bodies in the burial grounds adjacent to the poor farm be buried elsewhere.
The contract was let to the Zizik Undertaking Company, which company agrees to provide suitable graves for each of the known dead in the potter's field and to re-bury all those whose identities are unknown. The known dead are to be re-buried in City cemetery No. 7, and it is expected that the others will be put into a common grave to be dug at the new poor farm. Suitable shafts will be erected in each instance.
Should Bring Good Sum
Four years ago, Judge Phil Shook, then county judge, sought to sell the old poor farm, having in mind the construction of a building on the new farm. Judge Shook believed that the 18 acres of the old place ought to bring at least $1,000 per acre, but the best offer he could secure was $12,000. Neither Judge Shook nor the ten county commissioners believed the offer was adequate and declined to close the deal.
Since Judge Davis has been in office he has taken the matter up again and believes that by doing away with the unsightly burying ground and leveling all evidences of it after removal of the bodies, that the property may be sold to advantage. Judge Davis is not prepared to set a figure at which the county will be willing to sell, but the value of real estate in San Antonio has increased somewhat during the last four years. Possibly $1,000 per acre may be obtained, giving the county $18,000 to cash to be used in building a new poor house.
What the Plan Contemplates
The county has ample land about nine miles from San Antonio on which to place an up to date institution of the kind that is needed to care for the poor and indigent. In all, slightly over 99 acres are owned by the county, the tract having been bought four years ago from the late Dr. William Meier. At that time a detention hospital was erected on a portion of the land but the greater part has been used for three years as a farm.
If the contemplated plans go through, the county not only will get a modern poorhouse but also have a tuberculosis colony of tents. The proposition of placing a boys' training school there also has been under consideration, but the belief prevails that this may not be so feasible. In any event, the commissioners are working on the theory that the sale of the old poor farm and the placing of an additional sum with the proceeds thus obtained will be adequate to build an institution for the poor that will not be surpassed anywhere in the South. The first step is the removal of the graveyard.
2,500 bodies buried at the former Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery were disinterred about 1914. Reinterment of identified pauper burials were relocated to City Cemetery No. 7. Reinterment of the unknown pauper burials in were relocated to a cemetery at the new poor farm on Farm Road just off Southton Road. Other burials were relocated to cemeteries across the city of San Antonio such as City Cemetery No. 1 or City Cemetery No. 2. All evidence of the old Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery was leveled after the removal of the bodies. (Ref: https://web.archive.org/web/20190205225140/www.poorhousestory.com/TX_BEXAR_Article_Cemetery.htm)
According to the San Antonio Daily Express, the old Bexar County Poor Farm was sold that year. J. H. Kirpatrick was the bidder. (Ref: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth441935/m1/5/zoom/?q=poor%20farm&resolution=3&lat=4160.100238380365&lon=3424.1670639672784)
Most of Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery near Salado Creek was disinterred during the mid 1970s while the Poor Farm and sanitarium were being shut down.
The Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery was recently bulldozed over to aide the utility line easements connected to the new shooting range for Bexar County Sheriff’s Shooting Range back in 2019. These utility lines are pipes which provide electricity and water to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Shooting Range. None of the burials were harmed in the process.
Today the cemetery is now gone. So are the fence and markers. All that remains is an empty field of grass and the former road connecting to this cemetery which has now been removed. (Ref: https://www.uer.ca/locations/show.asp?locid=23427)
There is no inventory on the number of interments at the Poor House Cemetery and no record of whether any or all those interments were ever moved to the City Cemetery. None of the burials were transcribed onto any headstones. Yet some interment records exist. (Ref: http://sites.rootsweb.com/~txsaghs2/Pages/Links-Cemetery-Bexar-N-Z.htm)
The Bexar County Poor Farm Cemetery was located at 10915 Southton Road, San Antonio, Texas, US 78223.
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